Well, to be truthful, I almost did. The contrived holiday seldom occurs this early. Nevertheless, I’m going to recognize Presidents Day with re-posts of two essays about U.S. Presidents, neither of which were originally written for the holiday.
The first is one of my favorite mysterious tales about any President, in this case George Washington, and the second, from 2015 and re-posted five years ago, is my favorite story about any President ever.
Here they are:
Pssst! Bill Maher! The “Saved By God” Belief Has Inspired Some of Our Greatest Presidents. Shut Up.
Atheists and agnostics in the public sphere don’t have to be obnoxious, but an awful lot of them are. Their explanation for where the universe came from is no more persuasive that that of the faithful (The Big Bang? Come on.) but they just can’t restrain themselves. HBO’s Bill Maher is a prime example: along with mocking committed relationships (he hates the concept of marriage), extolling drugs and debauchery, and generally keeping his Axis of Unethical Conduct membership current, he ridicules Christianity at every opportunity.
The fact is, and it is a fact, that the United States of America had a much healthier and ethical culture before organized religion had discredited itself so thoroughly, driving whole generations away. Moral codes are especially essential for those who don’t have the time or ability to puzzle through ethics, and believing in God is the best catalyst for an ethical society that there is….and it has always been thus.
Heck, just look at what a jerk Maher is. That’s what atheism can do to you. But I digress.
My target here is more narrow. On last week’s “Real Time,” Maher sneered at the belief that God saved Donald Trump from being assassinated as stupid and “dangerous.” “People see signs because they want to see them. It’s why stalkers think Taylor Swift is blinking ‘marry me’ to them in Morse Code,” he explained. “It gets dangerous when the signs make someone think God is on their side,” Maher continued. “Republican Congressman Mike Collins said after the shooting, ‘God spared Ronald Reagan for a reason. God spared Donald Trump for a reason. God doesn’t miss.’ Really? Tell that to John Lennon, Lincoln, JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King. Look, the asshole who shot at Trump was cowardly, unpatriotic, selfish, vile, and weak, and he should rot in hell, but thinking that God protects your heroes but not mine? That isn’t cool either.”
How do you know, Bill, that God doesn’t protect your heroes for a very good reason? I can think of several good reasons for that, as well as for squashing you like a bug. Of course the certitude that God is responsible for anything is confirmation bias: my wife, the daughter of a Methodist minister, frequently expressed contempt for the faithful who simultaneously said that “God works in mysterious ways” and “there are no coincidences” while conveniently asserting that they had figured out those mysterious ways. But if Bill knew as much about American history, leadership and the Presidency as he should, he would know that the belief that God has saved them for a reason motivated many of America’s greatest leaders. It could have been dangerous, I suppose, but so far, that belief had been overwhelmingly beneficial to our nation. Perhaps even its salvation.
Leadership requires special character traits, the right formative experiences and a lot of luck. National leadership arises out of an individual’s conviction that they are uniquely qualified to do a better job than anyone else, accompanied by the passion, conviction and charisma necessary to convince others of their abilities. That’s why so many of our Presidents have been narcissists, true, but the anti-American trope that our leaders only seek power, wealth and personal benefits is, based on my lifelong study of history, garbage.
Ethics Alarms 
Interesting, Jack. If you celebrated Lincoln’s birthday
Good point. Actually, I celebrate Lincoln’s birthday EVERY Day. (I had the day right last week.) Brain freeze.
The next table over at a restaurant, I overheard someone talking about Trump and the bullet that missed by a hair. Someone else mentioned God in that context. Then a third person said: “So what did God have against Corey Comperatore?” Usually I butt in to other people’s conversations at restaurants (the fancier the restaurant, and the higher the prices, the more likely I’ll butt in). However, I didn’t know how to respond to that; so I ate my food instead. My buddies thought I was not myself. “The cat got your tongue?” one asked. Because it was a deli, I looked down at my sandwich in a panic, but then I realized it was just an old expression.
I love reading these stories. What’s the source for Washington meeting the old Indian chief that he’d fought on that fateful day?
Ron Chernow references it in his masterful biography of George Washington.
Thank you, Jack. I had never heard of Julia Sand. What a fascinating story.
Though Jack has covered Ms. Sand’s contributions well, I would highly recommend reading “Destiny of the Republic.” It’s Candace Millard’s outstanding biography of James Garfield.
You won’t be disappointed.
I definitely will.
Thanks, Jack. I didn’t get this ’til Tuesday morning, but that doesn’t matter; now I know The Rest Of TWO Stories!
PWS
See also :
Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand (dir. Destry Edwards, 2025) Available on YouTube.
The fact is, and it is a fact, that the United States of America had a much healthier and ethical culture before organized religion had discredited itself so thoroughly, driving whole generations away. Moral codes are especially essential for those who don’t have the time or ability to puzzle through ethics, and believing in God is the best catalyst for an ethical society that there is….and it has always been thus.
The root of ‘America’s problems’, at least I begin to think so, is that it significantly changed its ‘mission’ when instead of maintaining itself as a special republic, separate from the politics of the world, it opted instead to take that dangerous road to imperialism. I found it interesting that Mark Twain must have been a sorts of proto-lefty when he wrote so much criticism of the US invasion and occupation of the Philippines. That northern industrial power-base, that power-base which attacked and defeated the South and set the stage of imperialistic domination, went fully ahead with the project now culminated in the world: America as a giant corporation with ‘interests’ everywhere and a military that protects those interests.
You cannot have that idealistic Republic that was visioned at the beginning — and the present business-government enterprise that it has become today.
It is true that there is a unique piousness among Americans, and a genuine Christian spirit. But this cannot be reconciled with what America has become: an entity that is a business and military enterprise. It sound like I am chirping some ‘lefty-communistic’ doctrines but this is not so. What I am presenting could be defined through ultra-strict conservative and republican doctrines and values.
Mar Twain: To the Person Sitting in Darkness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Person_Sitting_in_Darkness
“The contrived holiday seldom occurs this early, and the 16th to me will always be Abe Lincoln’s birthday. ” Correction: the birthday of Araham Lincoln was Feb 12, 1809. This was the day we had a school holiday, followed shortly thereafter, was Washington’s birthday, Feb 22, 1732. In celebration of the first we constructed stove pipe hats. For the latter we had cherry pie.
Question: Did the Indian cheiftan really introduce himself to Washington as “I am the Native-American who shot at you 17 times.”
You should note that I fixed that gaffe last night, not long after the post went up….
At the timeof my comment this morning the gaffe was still there.
I stand corrected. Itis gone now, right?
I’ve seen the photo in the post for sale at National Parks (they also have one for the Democrats, too). Who is the woman in the back center? In the background (beyond the table), I can see Grant, Hayes, Taft, Hoover, Harding and Coolidge. I can’t pick out Garfield or Arthur.
I’ve read elsewhere that the woman “approaching the group” in this painting is meant to be unidentified. She is of the future, details to be furnished in due time.
I think that this painting gets “updated” as our nation progresses. This version includes DJT front and center, while the one I saw it many years ago was sans Trump (obviously). I have always found the placement and apparent personalities of the characters interesting.
Esteemed Host Jack– I would think that being shot down by anti-aircraft fire and being plucked from the Pacific by a submarine that arrived before the Japanese ship could get to him would have put George H W Bush on your list of those surviving close calls.
Agreed, although at the time he was just another pilot American submariners fished out of the drink.
Small point, Jack, but George Washington didn’t wear wigs. A lot of the other generals and statesmen of the time did, although Massachusetts boatman Brigadier General John Glover, who also usually wore his own clothes rather than a fancy uniform, was another exception, but Washington always wore only his own hair, although he powdered it to be fashionable.
Yup. That was careless of me. Thanks. Fixed.